home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
-
- ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1. PC/2 Help for Help ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
-
- PC/2 - Program Commander/2 Version 1.70
- for IBM OS/2 2.x Presentation Manager
- Copyright (C) by Stangl Roman 06, 1994
-
- Please select one of the following topics for further information:
-
- o About the utility PC/2
- o Installing PC/2
- o Using PC/2 as a WPS addon
- o Concepts of the Popup-Menu
- o Starting a Program from PC/2
- o Setup the Popup-Menu
-
- - Adding a Submenu
- - Adding a Program
- - Adding a Popup Menu controls
- - Resorting a (Sub)menu
- - Run-time parameters
-
- o Setup the Desktop
- o PC/2's Desktop overview window
- o Error messages
-
- <Backward> <Forward>
-
-
- ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2. Help for About PC/2 ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
-
- PC/2 - Program Commander/2 Version 1.70
- for IBM OS/2 2.x Presentation Manager
- Copyright (C) by Stangl Roman 06, 1994
-
- E-Mail:
-
- o InterNet: RSTANGL@VNET.IBM.COM
- o FidoNet: Roman Stangl @ 2:310/14 LA BAMBA BBS Tel.: (Int. Code +43 +1
- +6898971)
- o FidoNet: Roman Stangl @ IBM Austria National Support BBS Tel.: (Int. Code +43
- +1 +21145-6600)
- o IBM VNET: 61821799 at VIEVMA
-
- This program is classified as Freeware. Under the copyright, you are allowed
- and encouraged to freely use, distribute or modify this program under the
- following conditions:
-
- o The complete source code and all executables are included. This rule also
- applies for any modifications you made.
- o You may only charge for the costs of duplicating, distribution on InterNet,
- FidoNet or similar is preferred therefor. This program must not be sold by
- immoral "Public Domain & ShareWare" dealers that charge a price far ahead of
- the actual duplication costs.
- o Any commercial use is prohibited without contacting me prior, except for
- incorporating the idea/code in any future release of OS/2 by IBM, however
- this clause doesn't apply for any private use.
- o You don't want to port this utility to MS Windows or Windows NT (Nice Try).
-
- You are encouraged to upload this utility to your favourite file-server or BBS.
- Please ensure that no file is missing, if you change the archive to a different
- compression scheme.
-
- If you find this program useful and want to honor about ten weeks of work
- writing this utility, you are welcome to send me a small fee of about 50 to 150
- Austrian Schilling (about 5 to 15 dollar) to my home address. Of course you
- don't need to pay again, if a new release of PC/2 comes out. Please send any
- donations in cash, because it makes some troubles to exchange money orders or
- similar in Austria!
-
- Any suggestions are of course welcome too. Because of the Freeware status of
- PC/2 I am not going to send new versions or anything else by mail (which is
- likely to become a never ending story), however I try my best to do support via
- E-Mail!
-
- Thanks to all those, who sent me proposals and bug reports to improve this
- utility! Special thanks to Mario Semo, Carrick von Schoultz and Markus Hof,
- Roman Fischer, Alex Stewart, Ingo Pflanz, Rolf Knebel and Michael Wakunda who
- gave me advices and/or source code to modify for use within PC/2 and/or other
- support.
-
- My home address is:
-
- Roman Stangl
- Strebersdorferstrasse 46
- A-2103 Langenzersdorf, Austria
-
- <Backward> <Forward>
-
-
- ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3. Installing PC/2 ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
-
- You have obviously started PC/2 once, because you are reading this help panel.
- The installation is just straight forward with the REXX script that installs
- PC/2, however there are some points to notice:
-
- o The installation installed an icon on the Desktop and started the help panels
- of PC/2. To ensure that OS/2 starts PC/2 automatically the next time you boot
- your system, you must start PC/2 again (you then can notice that the
- background behind the icon changes). If you have added SET
- RESTARTOBJECTS=STARTUPFOLDERSONLY in your CONFIG.SYS then you must also add a
- shadow of PC/2 to your startup folder to ensure PC/2 is started the next time
- you boot OS/2.
-
- o PC/2 requires the file PC2HOOK.DLL to be accessible. PC/2 tries to find this
- file either in the current directory, or in a path that is included in the
- environment variable LIBPATH. PC/2 will not be able to run, if PC2HOOK.DLL
- can't be loaded. The file PC2.HLP may be either accessible in the directory,
- where PC/2 is started from, or in a path that is included in the environment
- variable HELP. If you have problems running PC/2, ensure, that the working
- directory of PC/2 is accessible by these variables in your CONFIG.SYS.
-
- o The installation assumes that you are using the default profile Pc2.cfg
- containing a standard pre-defined Popup-Menu. If you want to use an other
- Popup-Menu, you have to restart PC/2 and add your preferred profile as a
- commandline option. Click to the next help panel to get more information
- about commandline parameters. You may also use your favourite editor, to
- import one profile into another, but you have to ensure, that you don't
- violate the syntax rules of the profile.
-
- o PC/2 looks for its initialization file PC2.INI in the directory where PC/2
- was started from.
-
- o You can only run one copy of PC/2 concurrently.
-
- o If you select a DOS-Program to be started via PC/2, the time-slice of their
- sessions is optimized (the DOS-Settings are modified to IDLE_SECONDS=5
- IDLE_SENSITIVITY=100) to get a better performance. This is useful for most
- DOS games.
-
- o You may use PC/2 with or without the WPS installed, you may even use PC/2 as
- a replacement for the WPS. To do so you must install PC/2 first. Then you
- have to ensure that PC2HOOK.DLL is accessible by PC/2. Do this by adding the
- path you installed PC/2 into, to the LIBPATH environment variable in your
- CONFIG.SYS. PC/2 won't run as a WPS replacement if PC2HOOK.DLL is not in a
- path pointed to by the LIBPATH environment variable (this requirement is new
- for Version 1.70). You also have to ensure that PC2.HLP is accessible in the
- PC/2 directory or in a path pointed to by the HELP environment variable in
- your CONFIG.SYS file. Then replace the statement SET
- RUNWORKPLACE=C:\OS2\PMSHELL.EXE with SET RUNWORKPLACE=[path]PC2.EXE where
- [path] is the pathname of the directory you installed PC/2. The next time you
- boot, PC/2 will be started as a replacement for the WPS. Be careful, OS/2
- seems to dislike any parameters added to the program that is started as the
- WPS!
-
- Caution! PC/2 was not tested on all OS/2 versions or installed software and
- hardware (simply because I don't have them), so there may be bugs!. Of course
- you can start the WPS from a command prompt by typing START PMSHELL or add a
- corresponding entry to PC/2.
-
- <Backward> <Forward>
-
-
- ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4. General Help for PC/2 ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
-
- PC/2 - Program Commander is an addon or replacement for the WPS (Workplace
- Shell). The user can configure a menu that pops up, when mouse button 1 is
- clicked anywhere on the Desktop. From this freely configurable Popup-Menu, you
- can select an entry, which is launched immediately.
-
- PC/2 lets you define Hotkeys too. Pressing the Hotkey defined for a program,
- this program is switched into the foreground or, if it is not already running,
- launched immediately.
-
- PC/2 also allows you to expand the Desktop to a 9-fold virtual Desktop, you may
- define Hotkeys to switch to an application on any virtual Desktop by a simple
- keypress. You may also switch to any virtual Desktop directly by doubleclicking
- with mouse button 1 on PC/2's overview window. p.PC/2 also enables you to
- define a UNIX-style behaviour of switching the input focus from one window to
- another. This allows you to have the input focus in a window, which is not the
- topmost window.
-
- For example. the Popup-Menu might look like:
-
- You have selected the item Prompts, which is a Submenu containing seven more
- items. F.e. the item OS/2 Window starts a windowed OS/2 command prompt, when
- selected. This Popup-Menu is fully configurable, you may add, change or remove
- items. An item can either be a Submenu containing more items, the name of a
- program or a Menu Control.
-
- The complete Popup-Menu can be modified but the Menu Control Desktop Menu must
- be defined before the Popup-Menu will be displayed after mouse button 1 clicks.
- If you have not defined this Menu Control, the Setup dialog appears after mouse
- button 1 clicks enabling you to add this control.
-
- Your configuration is read from the default profile Pc2.cfg each time PC/2 is
- started and saved every time you made changes. You can of course overwrite the
- default configuration filename to a file named Filename.ext by invoking PC/2
- with the following commandline option:
-
- PC2 [-Profile Filename.ext] or
-
- PC2 [/Profile Filename.ext]
-
- where Filename.ext conforms to a filename of a PC/2 profile. Both FAT and HPFS
- filename naming convention is accepted. A few sample configuration files are
- provided in this package.
-
- As the default, the Popup-Menu appears if you double-click once on the Desktop,
- if no option or the following option is specified:
-
- PC2 [-DoubleClick] or
-
- PC2 [/DoubleClick]
-
- You may select a single-click instead, by invoking PC/2 with the following
- commandline option:
-
- PC2 [-SingleClick] or
-
- PC2 [/SingleClick]
-
- Please be sure not to combine both click behavior options. If you don't specify
- this option a user-modifyable default behaviour is taken from PC2.INI. Of
- course the options changing the click behavior and the configuration filename
- options may be combined.
-
- Because some people use PC/2 as a WPS replacement, PC/2 contains a Menuitem to
- ShutDown OS/2. By selecting this entry, it is safe to power off your PS/2 or PC
- after all disk activity has been stopped, although no windows are closed. If
- you run PC/2 as a WPS replacement and may want to start the WPS either by
- starting PMSHELL.EXE from a command prompt or by starting a PMSHELL Menuitem
- with PC/2. You then can follow the WPS initialization by heavy disk access and
- buildup of your Desktop with objects. PC/2 requires to know the Desktop (in
- technical terms the window handle of the Desktop) to be able to catch mouse
- button 1 clicks. If you start the WPS the Desktop changes too. Therefor PC/2
- checks regularily if the Desktop has changed, so you may have to wait a little
- bit, after the WPS was started, that PC/2 recognizes mouse clicks again..
-
- I would strongly recommend to start PC/2 during OS/2 boot. If you don't want to
- use the default profile, don't forget to add /Profile Filename.exe to the
- Parameters entryfield in the Settings of PC/2.
-
- The reason why I wrote this utility was primarily, that many programs installed
- on a system require many folders and icons on the Desktop. But to start a
- program, I don't want to open and close folders, so I made shadows on the
- Desktop messing it up. The solution I prefer is to click on the Desktop,
- getting immediately a menu and selecting the application to be launched from
- this menu, or alternatively launch or switch to applications by simply pressing
- a Hotkey. So PC/2 may help you to start your programs more quickly, without
- needing to open and close folders. When running without the WPS installed, you
- even don't have the possibility to launch applications from icons.
-
- <Backward> <Forward>
-
-
- ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5. Concepts of PC/2 ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
-
- The basic idea behind PC/2 is to have an configurable Popup-Menu available, to
- start programs quicky, without having to open and close folders.
-
- The Popup-Menu, popped up when you click with mouse button 1 anywhere on the
- Desktop (just like button 2 for the Desktop Menu), consists of so-called items.
- An item may be a Submenu, which contains further items, or the title of an
- Application or Menu Control items. A Submenu contains a little arrow right
- beside the title of the Submenu. Mouse button 1 is on most system the left
- mouse button.
-
- You can imagine this Popup-Menu as a tree, with applications as leaves and
- Submenus as nodes. PC/2 allows you to freely build your own tree. To do so you
- have to click on the Desktop with the left mouse button and to select PC/2
- Setup Config Menu. A dialog box appears, where you can add, modify or remove
- Submenus and Applications. The listbox displays all Submenus and Applications
- of one level (like a cut through the tree). Of course you may change this level
- up and down.
-
- You must have defined the Menu Configure Menu before PC/2 display it's
- Popup-Menu on mouse button 1 clicks. If you don't have defined it, PC/2
- displays it's Setup dialog after each click until you have added this control.
-
- Once you have configured your tree of Submenus and Applications, just press Ok
- to take them into effect and save them to the profile or Cancel to take them
- into effect without saving.
-
- <Backward> <Forward>
-
-
- ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 6. Help for starting a program via PC/2 ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
-
- After you have configured the PC/2 Popup-Menu, you click on the Desktop with
- mouse button 1, select the Application you want to start and click on it. The
- Application will be started as if you were clicking on an icon.
-
- One advantage starting an Application this way is, that you can manipulate many
- parameters on how the Application is started, one thing you can't do with many
- icons. F.e. you can start it invisible (useful for a backup program), making it
- only visible by selecting it from the window list. You may also specify the
- size of the Application or to start it in the background. You can even set it's
- priority or define a Hotkey to switch to it.
-
- You can also start WPS objects, f.e. the Drives object or the Selective
- Install. If you have an WPS object, that represents a seamless WIN-OS2
- application, you may even launch all types of seamless WIN-OS2 sessions.
- Without an corresponding WPS Object, PC/2 can only start seamless WIN-OS2
- sessions as separate sessions (the complete WIN-OS2 environment is loaded). Be
- warned! - you have to create an WPS Object with MAKEOBJ.CMD first to define an
- Object ID (Identifier) with that Object, to enable PC/2 to get this ID.
-
- To close an Application, select the corresponding option from the Application
- or terminate it from the tasklist. Alternatively you may use PC/2's Kill
- smarticon to close the application's window.
-
- <Backward> <Forward>
-
-
- ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 7. Help for PC/2 Setup ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
-
- In the listbox, all Submenus and Applications of one level (imagine as a cut
- through the tree) are displayed. A Submenu has an arrow right beside it. F.e.
- assume the listbox contains 6 Submenus and 2 Applications resulting in the
- following Popup-Menu:
-
- Select the item Config Menu to configure the items appearing in the Popup-Menu.
- The Setup dialog appears allowing you to adjust all items of the current level.
-
- You may want to get into the Submenu Prompts. Just select the Submenu Prompts
- an click on the button Level Down >>. The listbox will now be filled with all
- Submenus and Applications of the Submenu Prompts. To get one level up, simply
- press << Level Up. If nothing seems to change, you may be either at the highest
- level (the root of the tree) or at the deepest level (a leaf of the tree) of a
- Submenu.
-
- To configure the Popup-Menu just select an item.
-
- o To change or to remove this item use the buttons Change Entry or Remove
- Entry. Either a new dialog appears allowing you to change the item, or the
- item will be removed.
- o To add a Submenu or an Application press the buttons Add Submenu or Add
- Program. A new dialog is displayed allowing you to add a new Submenu or
- Application, after pressing Ok in this dialog, the Submenu or Application
- will be inserted after the selected item, or at the end of the list if no
- item is selected.
- o To add a Control press the button Add Control and a dialog appears allowing
- you to add Menu Controls predefined by PC/2.
- o To resort a Submenu press the button Resort Menu. A new dialog is displayed
- allowing you to resort the currently listed Submenu. Press here to get more
- information about the Resort dialog.
-
- If the listbox is empty, you can't remove or change anything. You also can't
- select any item, but in this case you can add a Submenu or an Application by
- just pressing the buttons, without needing to select an item.
-
- Press Ok to write the configuration to the profile, or press Cancel to keep the
- changes only in memory. Both buttons will dismiss the dialog.
-
- Example 1 Example 2
-
- <Backward> <Forward>
-
-
- ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 7.1. Setup example 1 ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
-
- Assume the listbox contains the following items resulting in the following
- Popup-Menu:
-
- You want to remove the Submenu References, rename the Submenu Tools to
- Utilities and add a Submenu Demos.
-
- 1. Select the item References. You can now press the button Remove Entry to
- remove the submenu, but only if this Submenu is empty. If it isn't empty,
- get into this Submenu by pressing Level Down >> and remove all items.
- 2. To rename Tools to Utilities select the item Tools and press the button
- Change Entry. A dialog box appears allowing you to rename this item.
- 3. Select the item, after which you want to insert the new Submenu. Then press
- the button Add Submenu to add one. A dialog box appears allowing you to
- enter the title of a new Submenu.
-
-
- ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 7.2. Setup example 2 ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
-
- Assume that you have remove all items, leading to an empty listbox. Now you
- want to add the Applications Backup and Terminal.
-
- 1. The listbox is empty, so you can't select any item. Just press the button
- Add Program and a dialog box appears, allowing you to enter all the data
- required for the new Application.
- 2. Now the listbox contains the item Backup, select it and press the button
- Add Program a second time. Again you get a dialog box, where you enter the
- data for the Application Terminal.
-
-
- ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 8. Help for PC/2 Menu Installation ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
-
- This dialog is used to get a name for a Submenu, which is then added to the
- Popup-Menu. You can enter whatever you like, f.e. to make a Submenu that
- contains OS/2 utilities you might enter Utilities.
-
- If you have chosen in the previous dialog to change the name of a Submenu, then
- overwrite the pre-entered text.
-
- Press Ok to accept, or press Cancel to ignore the data you entered.
-
- Examples
-
- <Backward> <Forward>
-
-
- ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 8.1. Menu installation examples ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
-
- Assume you have entered the following Submenu Titles:
-
- Title: Purpose:
-
- Prompts You want to add a Submenu named Prompts, that contains OS/2 and
- DOS, fullscreen and windowed command prompts.
-
- Spreadsheets You want to add a Submenu named Spreadsheets for your spreadsheet
- program like Lotus 123/G or Excel.
-
-
- ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 9. Help for PC/2 Program Installation ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
-
- This dialog is a notebook consisting of the following pages:
-
- Page: Tab title:
-
- Application This page is used to define an application's title, path, filename,
- working directory, command-line parameters and DOS settings.
-
- Session This page determines the type of session you want to add. Select
- between PM, OS/2, DOS and WIN-OS2 sessions.
-
- Style This page can be used to define the appearance of an application.
- If the application doesn't overwrite attributes, you may define the
- style, size and position.
-
- Hotkey This page is used to define a Hotkey, which will switch to the
- application and bring it into the foreground.
-
- Priority This page can be used to overwrite the default priority assigned to
- an application.
-
- Caution: Changing the priority may cause serious problems, because
- the application may be set to consume nothing to the full CPU
- time!.
-
-
- Press Ok to accept, or press Cancel to ignore the data you entered in all
- notebook pages.
-
- For more information click about on one of the above notebook pages select:
-
- o Application Settings
- o Session Settings
- o Style Settings
- o Hotkey Settings
- o Priority Settings
-
- Example 1
-
- <Backward> <Forward>
-
-
- ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 9.1. Application Settings ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
-
- This dialog is used to get the title, the path and filename, the working
- directory and parameters of a Menuitem, which is then added to the Popup-Menu.
-
- For a normal user it is the easiest way to use the following guidelines.
- According to the type of application you add, some fields may not be editable
- or visible:
-
- Fieldname: You would enter:
-
- Program Title: Here you enter the name which should appear on the
- applications's titlebar, which may be overwritten by some
- applications. For OS/2 and DOS windows, this will also be the title
- in the window list. You may also name the Objects here, you want to
- add.
-
- Path and Filename: Here you enter the fully qualified path and filename. F.e.
- you might enter c:\os2\cmd.exe to obtain an OS/2 command prompt, or
- c:\os2\mdos\qbasic.exe to start the basic interpreter.
-
- Here you also enter the name of WPS Objects. WPS Objects are
- referred either by their defined Object ID (Identity) f.e.
- <WP_DRIVES> or <WP_INST> for preinstalled Objects, of f.e.
- <WP_USER_CALC> or <WP_WIN_PBRUSH> for Objects installed by the user
- with MAKEOBJ.CMD, a REXX-utility supplied with PC/2. Preinstalled
- WPS Objects have usually a defined name, you may need to take a
- look into the file OS2_20.RC to get further information.
-
- PC/2 can only launch WPS Objects named by their defined ID, so be
- careful to get either the correct ID from OS2_20.RC or to define an
- Object with a known ID with MAKEOBJ.CMD For a user installed
- Objects, you can freely use any name, preferably a descriptive name
- in the form <WP_xxxx>.
-
- Sorry, this may be a little complicated, but it is the only way I
- know to get a known Object ID and the only way I know to start all
- types of seamless WIN-OS2 sessions. You can't use the Program
- Template to create Objects if you want them to add to PC/2, because
- PC/2 can't obtain the Object ID of such Objects.
-
- Here you would also enter the path and filename of a seamless
- WIN-OS2 application.
-
- Working Directory: Here you enter the directory where the EXE, HLP and DLL
- files of your application are located. Before the application is
- started, a change drive and change directory call is made, to make
- this directory the working directory.
-
- Parameters: Here you enter the parameters passed to the application. PC/2
- allows you to be asked for commandline parameters before the
- application is invoked. Press on Commandline Parameters to find out
- more about this feature. Assume that you want to use VIEW.EXE to
- view the command reference, you would enter c:\os2\book\cmdref.inf.
-
- If you have selected the WIN-OS2 Program Manager PROGMAN.EXE to be
- started as a seamless WIN-OS2 application, you may enter 1 and only
- 1 additional WIN-OS2 application, that will be started by the
- Program Manager in the same WIN-OS2 session. The Program Manager
- itself will be started minimized.
-
- DOS Settings: If you select as program type a DOS Full-Screen or DOS Window, a
- multiline entryfield is displayed where you can enter the DOS
- Settings you need. Default, the DOS Settings IDLE_SECONDS=5 and
- IDLE_SENSITIVITY are added if you create a DOS application for the
- first time. (You have to spell the DOS Settings exactly as they are
- displayed in the standard DOS Settings dialog - even then some
- can't be set for whatever reasons there are.)
-
- As seamless WIN-OS2 sessions are also DOS type sessions, you can
- also adjust the Settings of seamless WIN-OS2 sessions here, f.e.
- you may want to increase the memory by adding DPMI_MEMORY_LIMIT=8.
-
- File Find: If you click on this button, the standard file dialog of OS/2 is
- displayed where you can select the application you want to install.
- The application parameters (f.e. path) will then be inserted
- automatically in the corresponding entryfields.
-
- Drag & Drop: You can alternatively use the Drag & Drop operation to install one
- application. Select one application from f.e. a Drives object or
- from a filemanager, drag it into the dialog to any area that
- accepts it and drop it. The settings will be adjusted according to
- the application you dragged into. You may also drag any WPS Object
- into this dialog, but be careful to verify the name of the Object,
- because I don't know how to do this automatically (you may need to
- look into OS2_20.RC for the exact spelling of preinstalled Objects.
-
- For a power user, the data entered may be less. Because the OS/2 API
- DosStartSession() is used to start the application, all rules for this API
- apply as described in the toolkit. Hence you may leave the entryfield Path and
- Filename blank and then select from the Session Settings group an OS/2 or DOS
- fullscreen or window, to get a command prompt.
-
- You may also start an appliciation indirectly through a secondary command
- processor by specifying c:\os2\cmd.exe as the Path and Filename and use then
- the /C or /K option of CMD.EXE in the Parameters entryfield.
-
- Press Ok to accept, or press Cancel to ignore the data you entered in all
- notebook pages.
-
-
- ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 9.2. Session Settings ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
-
- Here you can select the type of application you want to add. By default, PC/2
- tries to determine the type of an application you installed via the standard
- file dialog or via Drag & Drop.
-
- Option: Description:
-
- Determined by WPS This default selection lets the WPS choose the type of
- application when started.
-
- OS/2 Full-Screen The seesion is a command session, started in full-screen.
-
- OS/2 Window The session is a command session, started in a window on PM.
-
- Presentation Manager The session is graphical PM application.
-
- DOS Full-Screen The session is a DOS command session, started in full-screen.
-
- DOS Window The session is a DOS command session, started in a window on PM.
-
- WPS Object The Object-ID of the WPS Object to be started is contained in the
- entryfield Path and Filename:. The session can only be started when
- the Object-ID is assigned.
-
- Seamless WIN-OS2 The session is a seamless WIN-OS2 session. Be sure that your
- graphics adapter supports such sessions. Currently all seamless
- WIN-OS2 sessions are seperate sessions.
-
- Real Mode The seamless WIN-OS2 session is started in Real Mode. Real Mode
- compatibility is only provided by OS/2 2.0.
-
- Standard Mode The seamless WIN-OS2 session is started in Standard Mode.
-
- 386 Enhanced Mode The seamless WIN-OS2 session is started in 386 Enhanced Mode.
- 386 Enhanced mode compatibility is only provided by OS/2 2.1.
-
- You generally have to verify, that the Program Type setting corresponds to the
- application you installed, for most programs you can use Determined by WPS if
- you aren't sure.
-
- According to the Program Type that is selected, some settings may not be
- editable or visible.
-
- OS/2 and DOS Fullscreen or Windows are only used, if you want to start a
- command prompt as the application. In this case, you usually enter in the the
- entryfield Path and Filename of the group Program Data the path of the
- corresponding command processor. A advanced technique to select the type of
- command processor only with these radiobuttons is described under the group
- Program Type.
-
- To add a seamless WIN-OS2 session without a corresponding WPS Object defined,
- select the Seamless WIN-OS2 radiobutton. Another group of buttons will be
- enabled, allowing you the select the Settings of the WIN-OS2 session. Although
- there is a Separate Session checkbox, seamless WIN-OS2 sessions will currently
- always be started as separate sessions.
-
- Warning: Under OS/2 2.0 GA, seamless WIN-OS2 sessions may only be started with
- the WPS running, otherwise the system hangs. There seems also to be a problem
- with a real mode session, because such a WIN-OS2 session starts to load, but
- doesn't finish successfully. Under OS/2 2.1 GA you may start seamless WIN-OS2
- session with or without the WPS installed.
-
- Press Ok to accept, or press Cancel to ignore the data you entered in all
- notebook pages.
-
-
- ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 9.3. Style Settings ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
-
- You can select one of the radiobuttons and any of the checkboxes to define the
- style the application should be started with.
-
- Some applications overwrite the default style settings, i. e. by reading them
- from a profile. PC/2 can't force such applications to accept the styles you
- selected.
-
- Option: c Description:
-
- Application defined The default style defined by the session itself is used.
-
- Maximized The session's default style is modified to maximized.
-
- Minimized The session's default style is modified to minimized.
-
- Invisible The window created by the application is invisible.
-
- No Autoclose The window created by the application is not terminated when the
- application shuts down.
-
- Background The window is created in the background.
-
- User defined Size & Position The session's default size and position is
- modified to the values entered. PC/2 forces the window to the
- entered position, even when the application overwrites these
- values. You may specify a position relative to the origin of the
- Virtual Desktops (the "middle" Desktop of the 9 Virtual Desktops),
- useful when the. Virtual Desktop feature is enabled.
- e. if you selected Minimized, Invisible and Background buttons, the application
- will be started minimized, in the background and invisible (this may make sense
- for a backup program).
-
- Press Ok to accept, or press Cancel to ignore the data you entered in all
- notebook pages.
-
-
- ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 9.4. Hotkey Settings ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
-
- PC/2 supports the definition of Hotkey, to switch from the current application
- to a certain application just by pressing a Hotkey. If the Hotkeyed session is
- on another virtual Desktop, PC/2 switches to this Desktop and switches the
- application into the foreground. PC/2 supports 0 ... 9 in combination with
- either the Ctrl-Key or the Alt-Key as Hotkeys giving you 20 different Hotkeys
- at maximum.
-
- If PC/2 can't detect the application running, the pressed Hotkey is defined
- for, it starts the application as if it was invoked by PC/2's Popup-Menu.
- Starting applications by pressing a Hotkey is another alternative invoking
- programs delivered by PC/2.
-
- PC/2 allows you to mark the application as non-movable around the virtual
- Desktop. By defining this style the application always keeps on the active
- Desktop, regardless to which virtual Desktop you are switching to.
-
- Control: Description:
-
- Session name If you either mark the application as non-movable or define a
- Hotkey, you must fill this entryfield with a string that equals or
- is part of, of either the applications name on it's titlebar or the
- applications name in the window list. If you use one of the two
- features and you leave the entryfield empty, PC/2 copies the string
- from Program Title entryfield when you press Ok..
-
- Be sure that the string you entered matches only with the current
- application, because the first match of this string with any
- applications's titlebar or it's entry in the window list will be
- taken. You may want to start your application without these options
- first, to get it's titlebar name or it's entry in the window list.
-
- I strongly recommend to fill in this entryfield if you experience
- unexpected results. PC/2 uses the session name to identify the
- current sessions from all running sessions.
-
- Keep on active Desktop Checking this flags keeps the application always on the
- current Desktop regardless to which virtual Desktop you move.
-
- Enable Hotkey This flag defines you want to define a Hotkey for this
- application. The controls necessary to define the Hotkey will be
- enabled.
-
- Default Once you pressed the Hotkey the Desktop is switched to the virtual
- Desktop the application is located on and activates it.
-
- Maximized The same as for Default is done, but the applications window is
- maximized too.
-
- Restore The same as for Default is done, but the applications window is
- restored too.
-
- Ctrl-Key You define a Hotkey which ranges from 0 ... 9 and A ... Z in
- conjunction with the Ctrl-Key.
-
- Alt-Key You define a Hotkey which ranges from 0 ... 9 and A ... Z in
- conjunction with the Alt-Key.
-
- You must select a key in the range between 0 and 9 or A ... Y from
- the drop down box which in conjunction with the Ctrl-key or Alt-key
- is used to switch to the application. You can define this way 72
- different keys as the maximum.
-
- OS/2 and DOS windows modify the keys pressed in such a way, that
- PC/2 is not able to detect them. If you wand to switch from such a
- window, change the focus to another window, for example to the
- Window List by pressing CTRL+ESC.
-
- Caution! All keys defined as Hotkeys in PC/2 are no longer
- available for other applications, because once a key is defined as
- Hotkey no other application except PC/2 gets this key. This is a
- limitation of the Hotkey feature, because only this way PC/2 can
- ensure that if a Hotkey is defined, the Desktop switches to this
- application. The Hotkey launches the application, if the
- application, the Hotkey is defined for, is not running. If you need
- a certain key, which is defined as a Hotkey in PC/2, change the
- Hotkey to an unused key.
-
- Current Window List To define the style non-movable or the Hotkey you may start
- the application first without these options and gets its titlebar
- name from it's window or it's window list name from the Current
- Window List.
-
- Press Ok to accept, or press Cancel to ignore the data you entered in all
- notebook pages.
-
-
- ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 9.5. Priority Settings ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
-
- PC/2 allows you to specify the priority of the applications you start via the
- Popup-Menu. OS/2 has the following priority classes and deltas defined to
- select from:
-
- Priority Class: Description:
-
- Idle time Idle-time is the lowest priority class a session or thread can run
- under OS/2. You may use this option for task that should only be
- performed if enough CPU-resource is available, i.e. for a
- background NFS (Network File System) Server or BBS.
-
- Regular If not specified otherwise the priority class Regular is the
- default class of all sessions and threads. For these default class
- the priority delta of 0 is default.
-
- No Change This option just doesn't change the priority. The application is
- started with the priority class Regular and priority delta 0.
-
- Time Critical Time-critical priority class is used for time-critical sessions.
- Examples may be real-time data acquisition.
-
- Foreground Server Foreground Server is the highest priority class available
- that should be only used for small assembly language applications
- because they really eat up the CPU time.
-
- Priority Delta The priority delta selectable between 0 and 31 is defined for
- each priority class. I.e. a session with Regular priority class and
- priority delta 25 has a lower priority than a session with
- Time-critial priority class and priority delta 3.
-
- Extreme caution! Changing the priority from the default selection may cause
- serious performance impacts on your system. Be very carefully when selecting
- higher priorities, because the higher the priority the higher the CPU
- time-slice a session consumes deteriorating overall system performance. You
- can't change the priority of DOS session (and WIN-OS2 sessions are DOS
- sessions) because allowing this would lock PM for unknown reasons.
-
- For example if you set an OS/2 command prompt to a Time-critical priority, you
- may not be able to switch to other sessions until the command prompt is waiting
- for input.
-
- Press Ok to accept, or press Cancel to ignore the data you entered in all
- notebook pages.
-
-
- ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 9.6. Program installation example 1 ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
-
- Assume you want to add Lotus 123/G:
-
- Fieldname: You would enter:
-
- Program Title: Lotus 123/G
-
- Path and Filename: c:\123g\123g.exe
-
- Working Directory: c:\123g
-
- Parameters: (none)
-
- Lotus 123/G is a Presentation Manager application so you would select
- Presentation Manager as program type. The program style may be Maximized,
- because more information is visible. The priority may be left at the default
- selection No Change.
-
- Assume you want to add the WPS Object System Clock (located in the folder OS/2
- System System Setup):
-
- Fieldname: You would enter:
-
- Program Title: System Clock
-
- Path and Filename: <WP_CLOCK>
-
- Working Directory: (n/a)
-
- Parameters: (n/a)
-
- The System Clock is a WPS Object, so WPS Object is selected as the program
- type. You may have to look into the file OS2_20.RC to get the defined name of
- preinstalled WPS Objects. Most settings are not available for WPS Objects.
-
- Assume you want to add the WPS Object seamless WIN-OS2 Clock. First you must
- create an WPS Object with a known Object ID (Identifier) with MAKEOBJ.CMD, a
- small REXX-utility supplied with PC/2. To do so, start MAKEOBJ.CMD and supply
- the Object ID <WP_WIN_CLOCK> when you're asked to. Then open the newly created
- Object Settings and change them as you usually do, when you want to make an
- Object for a seamless WIN-OS2 session of the WIN-OS2 clock. After you have
- created the WIN-OS2 clock object, you can drag it into this dialog of PC/2:
-
- Fieldname: You would enter:
-
- Program Title: Clock
-
- Path and Filename: <WP_WIN_CLOCK>
-
- Working Directory: (n/a)
-
- Parameters: (n/a)
-
- The seamless WIN-OS2 Clock is a WPS Object, so WPS Object is used as the
- program type. Assuming that you created the seamless WIN-OS2 clock object as
- outlined before, then the Object ID is <WP_WIN_CLOCK>. If you had an WPS Object
- before, and you don't know the Object ID, you have to create a new one with
- MAKEOBJ.CMD, to define a known Object ID.
-
- Sorry, this may be a little complicated, but it is the only way I know to get a
- known Object ID and the only way I know to start seamless WIN-OS2 sessions.
-
- Assume you want to add the WIN-OS2 Program Manager. Open the Program
- Installation dialog, and either enter the path information (f.e.
- c:\os2\mdos\winos2\progman.exe) or drag PROGMAN.EXE into. If you have entered
- the data manually, you also must check the seamless WIN-OS2 session. Further
- assume that you want in the same WIN-OS2 session also start the WIN-OS2 File
- Manager WINFILE.EXE, then you add it to the Parameters entryfield:
-
- Fieldname: You would enter:
-
- Program Title: Prog & File Manager
-
- Path and Filename: c:\os2\mdos\winos2\progman.exe
-
- Working Directory: c:\os2\mdos\winos2
-
- Parameters: winfile.exe
-
- You can only add a Parameter to the WIN-OS2 Program Manager, and only one.
-
-
- ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10. Help for PC/2 Control Addition ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
-
- This dialog allows you to add Menu Control items to PC/2's Popup-Menu. Except
- for Break Separator and Menu Separator you may only add 1 instance of the Menu
- Control to the Popup-Menu. The Menu Control Configure Popup-Menu Settings must
- be added to the Popup-Menu in order that PC/2 displays the Popup-Menu after
- mouse button 1 clicks, otherwise the Setup dialog will be invoked after each
- mouse click until you have added this Menu Control. PC/2 supports the following
- Menu Controls:
-
- Control: Description:
-
- Menu Settings This button is used to add the Menu Control to be able to
- configure the Popup-Menu via the Setup dialog.
-
- Desktop Settings This button is used to add the Menu Control to configure the
- virtual Desktop feature.
-
- About PC/2 This button adds the About PC/2 Menu Control.
-
- ShutDown OS/2 This button adds a Menu Control, which when selected displays a
- message box allowing you to shutdown OS/2 just be clicking on Ok or
- pressing the Enter key.
-
- Help This button add the online help Menu Control item.
-
- Exit This button is used to add the Menu Control to be able to exit PC/2
- via a message box by just clicking on Ok or pressing the Enter key.
-
- Break Separator This button is used to add one break separator Menu Control.
- You may add this Menu Control to convert a large single-column menu
- to a smaller multi-column menu. This Control is a Menu Control that
- you may add as often you prefer. I suggest to use this Control only
- to break Menuitems not being a Submenu.
-
- Menu Separator This button is used to add one separator Menu Control. You may
- add this Menu Control to enhance the readability of the Popup-Menu.
- This Control is a Menu Control that you may add as often you
- prefer.
-
- Press Ok to accept or press Cancel to ignore the your modifications.
-
- <Backward> <Forward>
-
-
- ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 11. Help for PC/2 Resort ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
-
- This dialog box contains two listboxes, the left one that displays the
- currently available Menuentries and the right one that displays the currently
- resorted Menuentries. Select the first Menuentry from the left listbox and
- press the Reorder button, to resort it to the right listbox. For the next
- Menuentry(ies) repeat this procedure, until the left listbox is empty.
-
- You can cancel the resort before you have done any sort, but you have to resort
- the complete Submenu once you made one resort operation.
-
- All sorted Menuentries in the right listbox can't be started with PC/2 until
- you complete the resort by pressing OK. Warning! - You have to press OK in the
- Setup Dialog to write the resorted Menuentries structure to the configuration
- file.
-
- <Backward> <Forward>
-
-
- ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 12. Help for PC/2 Startup Parameters ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
-
- PC/2 allows you to replace the commandline parameters of your application
- completly or partly.
-
- F.e. assume you have a TCP/IP communications package installed on your system.
- You also have added an Menuitem that start a file transfer program named FTP.
- FTP requires as a parameter the name of the host you want to connect to. To
- prompt you for this parameter immediately before FTP is started, you would
- modify the parameters entryfield of the PC/2 Program Installation dialog like
- [Please enter host address]
-
- Further assume that you selected the Menuitem FTP from the Popup-Menu. Just
- before FTP is started, a dialog box is displayed, requesting the host address
- from you. F.e. you will type ftp.cdrom.com, then the file transfer program will
- be invoked as if you typed FTP ftp.cdrom.com from a commandline.
-
- Generally the syntax for the commandline parameters is:
-
- Parameter(s) 1 [Text] Parameter(s) 2
-
- Assume you typed FirstFile.doc as the first and ThirdFile.doc as the second
- parameter. You will be asked by a dialog box, what to replace [Text] with.
- Assume you entered MyFile.doc then the program will be invoked with the
- commandline parameters FirstFile.doc MyFile.doc ThirdFile.doc. The string
- [Text] would have been replaced by MyFile.doc. Of course both parameters may be
- omitted, both may contain more than one parameter or only one of them may
- present. Omitting [Text] would start the application without asking you for a
- commandline parameter prior.
-
- You may also use this dialog, to add a second WIN-OS2 application to a WIN-OS2
- session, if the first application is the WIN-OS2 Program Manager.
-
- PC/2 allows you to edit commandline parameters similar to the WPS (open the
- Settings notebook of any application, position the cursor into the Parameters
- entryfield and press F1 or Help to get further information).
-
- Press Ok to accept the parameters you entered, or press Cancel to replace the
- commandline parameters by an empty string.
-
- <Backward> <Forward>
-
-
- ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 13. Help for PC/2 Desktop Setup ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
-
- PC/2 supports what is called Sliding Focus and Virtual Desktop.
-
- A sliding Focus ensures, that the window under the mouse pointer is always the
- active window (the one that has a highlighted frame). If you move the pointer
- over another window, PC/2 recognizes the pointer movements, and tries to
- activate the window currently under the mouse pointer. The windows will behave
- similar to X-Windows, but the active window is always fully displayed.
-
- A Virtual Desktop is a Desktop enhancement that expands your display. For
- example assume that you are running OS/2 on an XGA-2 at a resolution of 1024 *
- 768 pixels. Your display has then 1024 columns and 768 rows of pixels, giving
- you a Desktop where application windows can be seen. We will call this the
- physical Desktop. Of course you can start windows outside this Desktop, but you
- won't be able to see them unless you switch to this Desktop..
-
- PC/2 allows you to expand this Desktop, so that you can move the physical
- Desktop around to see the windows you couldn't see before. We will call this
- enhancement the Virtual Desktop. Simply speaking, imagine the virtual Desktop
- as an 3 * 3 array of Desktops, with the physical Desktop you now can see in the
- middle. Now imagine, that you can move your physical Desktop around within the
- larger virtual Desktop. For example assume that you move the physical Desktop
- left, all windows you have started will move right, so some disappear in the
- right side and some appear on the left side of your display.
-
- That's just that what PC/2 does for you. If you move your mouse pointer on the
- leftmost column of your display (column 0), all windows move rightward, as the
- physical Desktop moves leftward within the virtual Desktop. The same principle
- is used on the rightmost columns and the top and bottom rows. If you move your
- mouse pointer into a corner of your display, the Desktop even will move in two
- directions, leading to a horizontal and a vertical movement.
-
- Of course you can only move your physical Desktop in one direction, as long as
- this movement keeps the physical Desktop within the virtual Desktop. Using this
- feature, you expand your physical Desktop to a 9-fold virtual Desktop.
-
- Control: Description:
-
- Sliding Focus Select this checkbox to enable the Sliding Focus feature of PC/2.
-
- Preserve Z-Order To preserve the Z-order of the windows, that is the order in
- which a window in the foreground overlaps a window behind, also
- check the Preserve Z-Order checkbox. If you run seamless WIN-OS2
- sessions, you may want to disable the sliding Focus, to avoid some
- nasty problems.
-
- Button 2 titlebar click to set window to bottom Select this checkbox if you
- want to click down mouse button 2 on any window's titlebar to set
- this window to the bottom of all windows. This moves the window you
- clicked on behind all other windows, lowering its Z-Order to the
- minimum.
-
- Virtual Desktop Select this checkbox to enable the Virtual Desktop feature of
- PC/2.
-
- Move OS/2's Desktop This checkbox allows you to move the Desktop within the
- virtual Desktop like any other window. The Desktop is another name
- for the WPS (WorkPlace-Shell). You may check this option if you
- don't need the services provided by the WPS on all Virtual
- Desktops.
-
- Click to Move If you prefer to click, before the physical Desktop is moved,
- select this option. After you move your mouse pointer over the
- surrounding rows or columns you have to click, either a single or
- double click according to the
-
- Overview Window You may also want an overview window, that contains the current
- layout of the virtual Desktop. Select this checkbox to enable this
- feature. You may doubleclick with mouse button 1 on any of the 9
- virtual Desktops to immediately switch to this Desktop. commandline
- option, to move the physical Desktop.
-
- Keep on top Select this option if you want the overview window to stay always
- on the top of the Desktop, even if another window has the focus.
-
- Virtual Desktop Scrolling You can use this scrollbar to select the percentage
- of the display dimensions the physical Desktop should move for a
- single movement. You can select between 0 and 100 % wit 5%
- increments, with 100 % being the default one.
-
- OS/2's Desktop Name PC/2 has to know the name of this Desktop, so you have to
- ensure that you type its name in the entryfield. Under OS/2 2.0 its
- usually named OS/2 2.0 Desktop, but it changes under OS/2 2.1 to
- Desktop, if you haven't installed it over an existing OS/2 2.0
- system. You may rename the Desktop by clicking with mouse button 2
- on the Desktop selecting DesktopSettings and selecting the General
- notebook page. Changing the title can be used to replace OS/2 2.0
- Desktop by Desktop. Also ensure that you translate is into your
- national language, if you don't use an English OS/2 version.
-
- Window List Name PC/2 also requires to know the name of the Window List. The
- Window List is usually named Window List but you have to ensure
- that it is translated into your national language, if you don't use
- an English OS/2 version.
-
- Button 1 Single Click Select this option if you want to activate the Popup-Menu
- or switch to another virtual Desktop with a single click with mouse
- button 1.
-
- Button 1 Double Click Select this option if you want to activate the Popup-Menu
- or switch to another virtual Desktop with a double click with mouse
- button 1.
-
- These setting are saved and will be used when PC/2 is loaded unless you have
- specified a different behaviour with the Commandline Parameters.
-
- Press Ok to accept the configuration and save it into an INI file, or press
- Cancel to ignore any changes you made. If your INI file is corrupted, PC/2
- assumes default values, which you then can edit and save to a new INI file.
-
- <Backward> <Forward>
-
-
- ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 14. Help for PC/2's overview window ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
-
- PC/2's Desktop overview window displays a sized image of all windows available
- on all Virtual Desktops and allows direct manipulation. Of course PC/2's
- overview window must be enabled before it is displayed.. The overview window is
- controlled by smarticons, located at the top of the window. The currently
- active smarticon is framed and pressed. If mouse button 2 is pressed on a
- window the action corresponding to the active smarticon is performed.
-
- To perform actions on the windows displayed in PC/2's Desktop overview window,
- the following smarticons may be used:
-
- Icon: Description:
-
- Exit PC/2 Click on this smarticon to exit PC/2.
-
- Move window Selecting this icon changes the cursor to a window pointer cursor,
- allowing you to select and move a window by clicking and holding
- mouse button 2.
-
- Set to top Selecting this icon changes the cursor to a cross wires cursor,
- allowing you to move a window on the top of the Desktop by clicking
- mouse button 2 onto it.
-
- Set to bottom Selecting this icon changes the cursor to a cross wires cursor,
- allowing you to move a window to the bottom of the Desktop by
- clicking mouse button 2 onto it.
-
- Kill a session Selecting this icon changes the cursor to a cross wires cursor,
- allowing you to terminate a window by clicking mouse button 2 onto
- it.
-
- Maximize window Selecting this icon changes the cursor to a cross wires cursor,
- allowing you to maximize a window by clicking mouse botton 2 onto
- it.
-
- Minimize window Selecting this icon changes the cursor to a cross wires cursor,
- allowing you to minimize a window by clicking mouse botton 2 onto
- it.
-
- Restore window Selecting this icon changes the cursor to a cross wires cursor,
- allowing you to restore a window by clicking mouse botton 2 onto
- it.
-
- ShutDown OS/2 Selecting this icon changes the cursor to a window pointer cursor
- and displays a message box asking to continue ShutDown of OS/2.
-
- PC/2 Help Selecting this icon changes the cursor to a window pointer cursor
- and displays PC/2's online help you are reading now.
-
- <Backward> <Forward>
-
-
- ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 15. Help for PC/2 Errors ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
-
- PC/2 can't verify all user input for validity, so some user input may cause
- some PC/2 functions to fail. In this case, a message box is displayed
- containing the module and the sourcecode linenumber that failed. Also a error
- message is displayed containing which error occured and what should be done to
- resolve the problem.
-
- F.e. you might have configured to start the program VIEW.EXE by writing
- c:\os3\view.exe in the entryfield Path and Filename in the Program Installation
- dialog. This of course leads to an error, because when OS/2 tries to start this
- item, it can't find the directory \os3\ simply because it should read \os2\. A
- message box is displayed saying an error occured and that the user input should
- be corrected.
-
- The messagebox has three buttons that may be pressed:
-
- Button: Result:
-
- Abort PC/2 will be terminated and all unsaved data will be lost. You have
- to restart PC\2 again. This button should be the last one you
- select.
-
- Retry The error is ignored, you may need to correct your data entered in
- the entryfields.
-
- Ignore The error is ignored, you may need to correct your data entered in
- the entryfields.
-
- <Backward> <Forward>